Bed Bugs- What Not to Do

There are common mistakes made when we discover bed bugs in our homes. when we realise a pest has invaded our personal space, our go to reaction is to try and get rid of them ourselves and sometimes we can do more harm than good. Below we have listed the common mistakes made and why we shouldn’t do them.

Throwing things away.

This is our immediate reaction when we discover bed bugs and the reasoning behind it does make sense. If we have a bed infested with bed bugs and throw out the bed, I throw out the bed bugs right? Partly correct, yes the bugs on the bed will be removed from your property. However by moving the bed out of the property you risk spreading the bugs further into other rooms such us other bedrooms or the lounge. If you live in flats where there are properties in close proximity you could also spread the bed bugs into neighbouring flats.

Bed bugs will also live in other areas of the room. Places like chest of drawers, skirting boards and other furniture in close proximity to the bed can also be infested depending on the size of the infestation.

Any furniture thrown will also have to be replaced meaning it will cost more money in the long run. It is also easier to treat a bed bug infestation with a bed in the room.

Bagging up clothes.

This is a tricky one. Some pest control companies will advise to do this, for others it is a requirement. For us at Bed Bugs London, we DO NOT want you to do this. If you bag up items of clothing you could trap bed bugs in the bags. Bed bugs can go into diapause and live for up to 18 months without a feed. You may put some bags in the loft or in the back of a cupboard and not re open them for months. You could re infest your own property further down the line.

Leaving the infested room.

When we realise we have bed bugs, we feel the need to escape from them, especially if we have a bad reaction to the bites. We may go and sleep in a different bedroom, the living room or another property altogether. The problem is that bed bugs track us through carbon dioxide and heat. If they can’t track us where they normally find us for a feed they will find the next nearest food source. This could be in the bedroom next to ours, the neighbours or the living room. They normally won’t go in kitchens or bathrooms as we do not spend enough time in the areas for bed bugs to get a feed. Unless here is a sofa in a kitchen or we sleep in the bath!

If you do have a possible bed bug infestation please do contact us for free and friendly advice.